Ghost on the doorstep
by Tysonlovesfishponies
Summary: Mortal AU Izzy really didn't know what to expect. There were only three things she knew about the girl: Her name was Clarissa Morgenstern. She was fifteen years old, making her the same age as Izzy. Lastly, she was a Priority Case. All about Izzy's impression of her new sister. (A two-shot for now)
1. Chapter 1

The moment Isabelle Lightwood heard about the girl, she decided they were going to be best friends.

She didn't care if the girl wanted to or not, because when Isabelle - or Izzy, as most people called her - decided something, you could bet every item of your clothing that she would make it happen. The black-haired fashionista didn't know why exactly she wanted this girl to be her friend. It wasn't just because she was going to be her sister. (She didn't think that should be the only reason why you'd want to be friends with someone. After all, she didn't really like her dad either.) It also wasn't that Izzy knew the girl to be friendly, she hadn't even met her yet. Izzy really wanted to know why exactly she wanted this friendship.

That's why Izzy jumped up when the doorbell rang that day. For the third time, I might add. The first time, it had been someone who had been at the wrong door (he'd needed to be at 242 and they lived at 240). The second time, she had received a delivery of heels she'd ordered weeks ago, but she was kind of disappointed it hadn't been the new girl.

Yeah, it was that bad.

She was the first at the door, closely followed by her brothers, Alec and Max, who'd both ran from the room with her. Lastly came her mom, Maryse. Izzy looked through the the tiny hole in the door that allowed her to see who was standing outside, and saw a woman in a uniform waiting and watching something behind her. As Izzy turned around, a wide grin spread across her face. Apparently this was enough of a reaction for Maryse to open the door.

The woman turned when she heard the door open.

"Good day, are you Maryse Trueblood?"

Maryse nodded and extended her hand, introducing herself, then Max and Alec, and Isabelle. She smiled kindly at the officer when she heard her name.

"Could we take this inside, please?" The officer still sounded nice, though it was clear there really was no room for discussion. Izzy's spirit fell. This had happened before, four times. Every time they would be waiting for a foster child that was going to live with them and then, just before they actually got there, they had to cancel, because they found a more suitable home.

The officer noticed the sudden mood change and probably realized what they assumed.

"Don't worry, she will be here, I just need to speak to your mother about a few things and then I'll get her. "

Maryse nodded, too happy to speak, and walked inside the house, straight to the kitchen. She let the officer in and then locked the door, ensuring that Izzy and her brothers couldn't eavesdrop. All of them sighed at the same time. Izzy turned to her slightly older brother and raised her eyebrow questioningly. He didn't have to ask what she meant by that and explained.

"They're discussing where the girl will live and where she'll go to school and stuff like that, but also why the girl was removed from her home and a little background stuff, like where she lived."

Max looked at his big brother with wide grey eyes.

"So she's really going to live with us?" They both nodded.

"What if she doesn't like me?"

" She will like you, it's impossible not to. You're adorable." Izzy told him, knowing what it would do.

"I'm nine years old, I'm not adorable I'm a big boy." She smiled at him, but before she could say something else the kitchen door opened and they fell silent. Maryse looked at her children.

" Before we meet your new sister, there will be a few rules. You don't touch her, unless she says it's okay. Don't force anything upon her. She has to get used to her new surrounding and us. Don't pester her with questions, if she wants to talk about anything, she'll do it herself. Give her space, let her be alone if she wants to and, lastly, be nice to her." The Lightwoods nodded and followed their mom to the front door, waiting for the officer to return with the girl that would live with them from now on.

Izzy really didn't know what to expect. There were only three things she knew about the girl: Her name was Clarissa Morgenstern. She was fifteen years old, making her the same age as Izzy. Lastly, she was a Priority Case. This meant, according to Alec who'd been doing research on the internet after their mom refused to tell them, that she needed a new home faster than anyone else for whatever reason.

So, yeah. Izzy didn't really have much to go on here, but whatever she'd been expecting was not what was only a few feet away from her now.

Before her stood a girl, a short girl. Like, really short. And Izzy wasn't just saying that because she was tall or that she was walking on four inch heels. Though it probably did contribute a little. But still, she looked barely five feet. If Izzy hadn't known better, she would have thought the girl in front of her was thirteen, not fifteen.

When Izzy came over her little shock, she had to consciously keep from gasping out loud. Clarissa was way too thin, like the when-was-the-last-time-you-had-a-decent-meal-thin. Izzy was pretty sure she would be able to count her ribs if she would lift up the purple shirt the girl was wearing. She was also very pale, like marble or porcelain. It contrasted with the huge bags under her eyes, barely visible because she kept her head down, looking at her sneakers. A few freckles were barely visible, as if they too had paled. Her hair was startlingly red, though it had lost it's shine. Her curls sagged, like they were too tired to fight against gravity anymore.

But most shocking were the eyes Izzy only caught a glimpse of before they were downcast again. They were bright green, but hollow. And that's what shocked her the most. She hadn't ever seen someone with eyes so devoid of any will. Clarissa was shivering from cold or fear, Izzy didn't know. She looked so weak, Izzy wondered how she could even stand upright without breaking both of her legs. She was sure that, had she seen this girl in a dark alley, she would've thought she was hallucinating. Or assumed she saw a ghost. No one could look like that and still be able to function, right?

The eyes flickered up again and this time there was a glimpse of something... rebellious. And that's when Izzy realised that this ghost of a girl, was a fighter who thought she'd lost the battle, but didn't allow herself to give up. 'Cause she hadn't struggled through her life, through an endless battle, just to lose the war. And, as Izzy would later realise, she was exactly right.

So does is my first fanfic...

I hope you like it. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and if you find any spelling errors, please let me know.

Until next time hopefully.

Tysonlovesfishponies


	2. Chapter 2

Izzy didn't see Clarissa again for another week. Which seems pretty weird when you live in the same house, but it's really an accomplishment when you realise there's literally one wall between their bedrooms. They had to use the same bathroom, for the Angel's sake.

To be fair, Izzy had been working all week. -Being a waitress at Taki's wasn't really her dream job, of course. But it wasn't the worst job out there. At least there were cute guys to flirt with once in a while.- And Maureen, her stupid boss, refused to give her the time off.

But still. Pretty weird.

It wasn't Izzy's fault she hadn't seen Clarissa for so long, the girl refused to come out of her room. The first night Maryse had come to her door about ten times asking if she really didn't need anything. Finally, she just told her where she could find the food if she wanted to eat. But Clarissa didn't come out of the room until she thought everyone had fallen asleep.

Izzy hadn't been able to fall asleep that night, still seeing the image of the ghostlike girl etched in the back of her mind. Around midnight she heard a door open and footsteps echoing across the hall. A few minutes later Izzy heard some shuffling. She only had to wait five minutes for the footsteps that signalled the return of her sister. The past week, Izzy had waited until Clarissa had returned from her trip to the fridge to fall asleep. But she didn't dare to step out and stop Clarissa, in fear of scaring her off.

So, it really wasn't Izzy's fault. In fact she'd almost got a chance to see her when she came home early once and no one except for Clarissa was home. But as soon as the red-haired girl noticed her, she ran in two seconds straight into the hallway. Never to be seen again.

Until now.

The girl Izzy hadn't seen in a week, despite them living in the same house, was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Both girls remained in the same position out of shock, not expecting the other to be there. It looked quite funny, actually. Clarissa stood with taut muscles and a look of complete and utter fear on her face, her hands holding enough food to last another two days. In a total opposite Izzy was lying on the couch with her feet up the wall and her head almost touching the ground - She always did that when she was bored, but too tired to do anything- and while her head slowly began to redden from, you know, hanging upside down, her expression stayed the same. Utter shock.

The little girl didn't look a lot better than the first time Izzy saw her, although she did look cleaner. Izzy supposed Clary could have taken a shower somewhere in the middle of the night after Izzy had fallen asleep. She still looked ghostly, however, and the hope that Izzy had just exaggerated everything in her mind disappeared, because clearly she had not. The girl was still tiny and thin. The bags under her eyes had cleared up a little, though and her hair seemed to have improved over the last week.

Finally, Clarissa started to move and Izzy, just as abruptly, came out of her stupor.

"Wait!", she called, and Clarissa froze again. Because of her hasty stop, a few sandwiches and an apple fell from her hands. Izzy looked at them and back again at Clarissa, who now looked really scared. She started to shake a little, but Izzy didn't notice. She was too busy thinking of something to say that wouldn't chase her away again. It was surprisingly hard.

"Don't worry, I just want to talk to you." She still didn't relax, but Izzy held her attention. Izzy took a deep breath.

"Hi, I'm Isabelle Lightwood, but you can call me Izzy. What's your name?" An introduction is always a good start, right? Apparently not. The redhead looked toward the door that led to her bedroom. Bad move, Izzy. She gave a small smile and tried again.

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me. Um…So, something about me. I'm really into fashion and I love to go to parties. I enjoy singing too, even though it doesn't sound like it's supposed to. I can't cook to save my life. Everything I prepare is either burned or tastes like it should be burned. My dad and my mom are divorced, which is why you haven't seen him around. They split up after I was born, but decided to try it one more time. They had Max and then he left again. A lot of people think Alec looks scary, but he's scared of spiders, so I don't know why they do."

Izzy kept talking. And the longer she talked, the more relaxed Clarissa seemed to get. She talked for at least an hour about everything and anything that popped up in her mind. She told Clarissa all about Max and Alec. She recounted every story of the previous brothers and sisters who had cancelled at the last moment. She explained in detail what she wanted to do in the future. Finally, after Izzy couldn't think of anything more to say, she looked at the girl.

She was smiling and, although she was still standing, she looked more relaxed than Izzy had ever seen her ( which, of course, didn't say much). She noticed Izzy had stopped talking and tensed up a little again. Izzy was afraid she would run away again. Instead the girl smiled shyly and said: "I'm Clarissa Fray, but I prefer Clary."

Before Izzy could respond, she turned around and walked to her room. ( Yeah, that's right, _walked_. No running involved. Which only meant one thing to Izzy: Progress.)

 **I had some positive feedback from people asking me to continue this story. I really hadn't been expecting that and I hadn't really though of how to continue this story. I am going to try and make a story out of this, but there won't be regular updates, because I'm really busy with school.**

 **I wanted to give a special thanks to A New Look, Turtles rule (I totally agree, by the way) and Kat-Heronweather-Fairchild for giving me those reviews.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Tysonlovesfishponies**


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